Ardvreck School And Sanatorium, Crieff

Ardvreck School and Sanatorium is a complex of buildings constructed in 1885, with a south wing added in 1898 and subsequently raised to three storeys, and 20th-century extensions to the rear. The original school section is a two-storey and attic, six-bay building with conical-roofed towers. It is constructed of squared and snecked rubble with tabbed bull-faced quoins and margins. The principal, or southwest, elevation features advanced bays to the left with two broad towers flanking a recessed centre. The towers have two windows to each floor and a four-part dormer window breaking the eaves into a catslide roof below a central ridge stack. The ground and first floors of each tower have a bipartite window in the centre, flanked by single windows. A centre bay rises to a piended bipartite dormer window breaking into a conical roof. The tower to the right has further windows to each floor and a piended dormer at its outer right return. A later, set-back, three-bay wing is situated to the right of the centre, with a timber door and plate glass fanlight on the left and a canted window immediately to the right at ground level. Regular fenestration is present on each floor above, with a bay rising into a gablehead with a stack. A monogrammed panel, dated 1898, is located between the upper floors and the angle tower, which has three windows to each floor. The northwest elevation exhibits a variety of elements and an asymmetrical fenestration pattern, including a porch with a panelled timber door, plate glass fanlight, and projecting gable with a raised-centre tripartite window. An advanced gable is situated to the outer left, and a canted oriel and piended dormer windows are also incorporated. The southeast and northeast elevations have been altered.

Plate glass glazing is used in the timber sash and case windows, with some upper sashes retaining a 6-pane or occasionally 2-pane pattern over plate glass lower sashes. Grey slates cover the roof. Coped and shouldered ashlar stacks with cans are present, along with overhanging eaves and decorative cast-iron finials to the towers.

The interior features plain cornicing, boarded dadoes, carved timber fire surrounds, architraved doors, and a timber dog-leg staircase with turned balusters and newel posts. The dining room includes panelled dadoes, a compartmentalized ceiling, and memorials commemorating World War I and II. Some dormitories retain timber bed divisions. Timber pews from the former St Columbus Church have been incorporated.

The sanatorium, now converted to staff accommodation, is a single- and two-storey, irregular U-plan building on ground sloping steeply to the west. It is constructed of squared and snecked rubble with some Aberdeen bond and bull-faced dressings. The east wing is a single-storey structure. The west elevation features a segmental-headed door under a decoratively-timbered dormer gablet, a single window, and a conical-roofed angle tower with a window. The north wing is a single-storey structure with three windows on the south elevation. The west wing is a two-storey structure with a rounded elevation to the south, featuring a gabled bay with a panelled timber door and a window above, a small window to the left at ground level, and a bipartite window to the right. The south elevation of the west wing incorporates a bipartite window at ground level and three windows above. The windows throughout the sanatorium wings use a combination of 2-, 6-pane and plate glazing patterns. Grey slates cover the roof. Coped ashlar stacks with some cans are present, along with overhanging eaves, exposed rafters and plain bargeboarding.